SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- A Sunnyvale couple trimmed one redwood tree in their backyard Wednesday and hope that will satisfy a Santa Clara County judge who said the tree was illegally blocking a solar panel next door.

The problem is that the tree was blocking their neighbor's solar panels. The neighbor wanted all the trees removed, but in the end the homeowner compromised and simply trimmed a portion of one tree so that sun could come through.

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NBC11's Marianne Favro described the trimming as a bad haircut.

The tree issue led to legal action and the judge sided with the solar panel owner.

Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett said they ran out of money to fight the ruling and had one of their trees trimmed Wednesday morning.

A judge convicted Treanor and his wife of one count of "shading a solar panel."

That judge ordered the couple to remove the trees in December. The couple said they've spent $37,000 in legal bills and are giving up.

The case has made national news.

The conflict started in 2001, when their neighbor, Mark Vargas, installed a solar system on his roof.

The trees in question were planted from 1997 to 1999.

All of the trees on the property are currently between 20 and 40 feet tall. Vargas wanted them to be cut back to 15 feet. He offered to pay for the trim.

After several years of negotiations with no conclusion, Vargas filed a complaint under California's "Solar Shade Control Act."

In December, a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge sided with Vargas and ordered that two of the trees be cut down. He allowed six trees to remain.

The couple will now take pictures of the trimmed tree back to the judge to see if it meets his standard.

That will happen next month.

Although the tree owners lost their battle, future cases may end differently.

This week, state Sen. Joe Simitian, (D) Palo Alto, introduced a bill that would change California law so that anybody whose trees were planted before a neighbor's solar panels were installed can't be required to cut them back or cut them down.

Under the bill, it would still be illegal to allow trees to cast a shadow on solar panels if the panels were installed first.